Generally, when windshields of vehicles are contaminated by dust or various foreign substances in the air or by rain or snow, the vision of drivers and passengers cannot be ensured, thus impeding safe driving. Therefore, wiper devices are typically provided on vehicles as means for removing rain water, snow or foreign substances on the windshields of the vehicles to provide the stable vision of drivers and passengers to ensure safe driving.
Wiper devices according to conventional techniques include a blade, which is made of soft rubber and has a predetermined length, the blade being in close contact with a windshield of a vehicle and moving thereon to wipe rain water, snow or foreign substances, a body spring, which is coupled to the upper end of the blade and has a predetermined curvature and a predetermined elasticity, and a clamp, which is coupled at a medial position to the body spring. The wiper devices further include a connector, which is rotatably coupled to the clamp, and a drive arm, which is connected at a first end thereof to a motor installed in the vehicle and is removably coupled at a second end thereof to the connector to transmit rotating force from the motor to the blade.
Here, the second end of the drive arm, which is coupled to the connector, is integrally provided with a hook part, which is curved to have a ‘U’ shape. The drive arm is coupled to the connector by locking the hook part to the connector.
In such a wiper device having the above-mentioned construction, when the wiper device is operated to remove rainwater, snow or foreign substances covering the windshield of the vehicle while traveling, the drive arm is rotated by the operation of the motor, which is installed in the vehicle body. Then, the blade assembly and the clamp, which has the connector coupled to the drive arm, are integrally rotated in conjunction with the drive arm, thus removing the rainwater, snow or foreign substances from the windshield.
Meanwhile, according to the kind of vehicles, drive arms have various sizes and shapes, which are different from each other. In the conventional techniques, in response to the various kinds of drive arms, various kinds of wiper devices having shapes for the exclusive use of the corresponding drive arms must be produced.
In detail, drive arms for vehicles are typically classified into a ‘U’-shaped clip type drive arm, having a locking structure, a bayonet type drive arm, having a plug coupling structure, a pin type drive arm, which is provided with a protrusion on a sidewall thereof and has a coupling structure using the protrusion, a side hole type drive arm, which was developed by Bosch company and is fitted into the sidewall of a wiper device, and a top lock type drive arm, which has a coupling structure such that it covers the upper surface of a wiper device. As such, these drive arms have various shapes and sizes different from each other. In the conventional techniques, the wiper devices must be exclusively used with corresponding drive arms.
Therefore, with regard to the wiper devices, the standardization of products cannot be realized. Thus, there is a disadvantage in that the degree of freedom in design of products is low. As well, because wiper devices corresponding to various kinds of drive arms must be produced and marketed, production and distribution costs are increased.